It took just one shot for Ion Surdu to cement his status as OKTAGON champion on Saturday night.
Moldova’s Surdu scored a highlight-reel head kick knockout in the main event of a card this weekend, putting away Brazil’s Kaik Brito in the first round to capture the vacant OKTAGON Welterweight Championship.
The brutal finish closed out OKTAGON 64, which took place from the SAP Garden in Munchen, Germany.
A feeling-out process between the welterweight talents came to a sudden end halfway through the opening round due to a slick sequence from Surdu. Capitalizing on a moment where Brito wasn’t expecting a big shot – exiting a body lock position – Surdu whipped out a head kick which immediately put out Brito.
The finish win continued a strong year for Surdu, who secured a title shot this summer after beating former champion David Kozma with another quick first-round stoppage result.
Brito, a former OKTAGON champ, was coming back to the promotion with the hope of regaining a title he never previously lost. The Brazilian fighter held OKTAGON’s welterweight title in 2022, but dropped the belt in hopes of earning a UFC opportunity via “Dana White’s Contender Series.”
After losing his “Contender Series” opportunity in a majority decision against Oban Elliot last year, a result he has since disputed, Brito was making his first OKTAGON appearance in over two years this weekend.
Moeil Withdraws From Main Event Following Press Conference Brawl
Fight week drama in OKTAGON’s heavyweight division boiled over on Saturday, resulting in the show’s expected main event getting cancelled.
One day after OKTAGON Heavyweight Champion Hatef Moeil provoked opponent Lazar Todev during a press conference – in the process throwing his title and hitting a bystander in the head – the champ withdrew from his matchup on the show.
Moeil’s departure from the card only became known an hour before the show went to air, as the champ noted on social media that he made the decision to remove himself from the show.
Hours later, an OKTAGON statement claimed that Moeil pulled out of his fight after being told that he would suffer penalties due to his press conference brawl.
“Today at lunch, we informed Hatef Moeil’s management that Hatef would be penalized for yesterday’s incident,” the promotion wrote on social media. “Hatef decided on his own not to participate in the match based on this. We will provide updates on the consequences in the coming days.”
Rivalries and outside-of-the-cage scuffles often boost the hype for a fight, adding drama that brings in viewers. However, the heavyweight matchup at OKTAGON this week has shown that sometimes those incidents can be anything but beneficial to a promoter.
Here are the quick results from Saturday’s show in Germany:
Main Card (12:00PM EST / 6:00PM CET) (OKTAGON PPV)
Bout 9: Ion Surdu def. Kaik Brito via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 2:34) (Vacant OKTAGON Welterweight Championship)
Bout 8: Alexander Poppeck vs. Mateusz Strzelzyk via No Contest, Illegal Knee (RD 1, 2:28)
Bout 7: Max Holzer def. Eugen Black-Dell via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 6: Patrick Vespaziani def. Sebastian Herzberg via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 2:57)
Bout 5: Jakub Dohnal def. Michael Deiga-Scheck via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 3, 2:43)
Bout 4: Jamie Cordero def. Ion Taburceanu via Submission, Kimura (RD 1, 1:00)
Bout 3: Gokhan Aksu def. Jan Malach via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1, 3:28)
Bout 2: Marek Bartl def. Endrit Brajshori via Submission, Triangle Choke (RD 1, 2:57)
Bout 1: Fedor Duric def. Jan Stanovsky via Decision, Unanimous
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